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"Why," you ask? Because we want profile pages to have freedom of customization, but also to have some consistency. This way, when anyone visits a deviant, they know they can always find the art in the top left, and personal info in the top right.

If memory serves me correctly, I encountered this plump and spiky caterpillar on a plant outside my student's house. She was an amazing student who did well in everything and was always happy and willing to help out others. One day, after a school fair, she spontaneously invited me to her home, along with another one of my students. The two of them dangerously sat helmetless on the back of my scooter as I navigated through the most crowded street I have ever driven through. Such a role model I am, eh? Well, we got through it fine, and I had a great afternoon with the kids. My student showed me her pet cockatiels and her neighbor's pet finches, which were hanging in a tiny cage outside the front of the house (Taiwan birdkeeping is far from perfect). While we were out front, one of the students discovered this huge caterpillar on a leaf.

Thank you to J-Y-M for informing me of the species! "It's a caterpillar of a Graphium butterfly (family Papilionidae). Probably Graphium agamemnon, the "Tailed Jay"."

Mike and I went on a hike with my co-teacher's husband and her daughter. The guy said that he used to go to school at a monastery about halfway up the mountain, and he wanted to show us the monastery, the view from the top, and the wildlife. We got out of the car, and the four-year-old daughter recognized the landscape and immediately started complaining. Being that she is a four-year-old, Mike and I didn't take her complaints seriously. We can definitely endure more than a 4-year-old, right?!

Well, we were wrong. It was a really steep climb for most of it and the 4-year-old ended up faring better than us on the climb. At least we got to see some monkeys. Here is a Formosan rock macaque (台灣獼猴) casually eating some leaves and completely ignoring us.

Once upon a time, I went to Meinong to see my co-teacher and her family, who are all avid birders. Here is a scaly-breasted munia (斑文鳥), also known as a Nutmeg Mannikin or a spice finch. We spotted a group of them near a lake. I've only ever seen these guys in pet stores before!

It has been ages since I have been on deviantART - nearly two years have passed since I was last active! First of all, I apologize sincerely, and I will try to catch up with messages. I have 12115 notifications right now! Read on if you want to hear my excuses...

I moved back from Taiwan in summer of 2013, and I got a job as a TA at a school! While the job itself was great, the commute was not. It was an hour, one way, with no traffic, which meant that with normal Bay Area traffic, I was spending upwards of 4 hours a day in a car. Extremely exhausting - couldn't keep my eyes open once I got home.

Secondly, I don't know how many of you are aware of the plight of public school teachers in the US, but it is definitely expected that we take our work home with us. When I taught in Taiwan, I got two afternoons off each week to do professional development and lesson planning. I still went over the allotted time and would work late into the evening occasionally - but it still felt manageable. Here, we barely ever get any planning or prep time allotted to us. So my free time was reduced even more.

Thirdly, even as a person with a master's degree and teaching experience, I still cannot become a lead teacher in California if I do not have a credential. So, at the beginning of last school year, I moved closer to work, cutting down my commute time significantly... but then I also started attending classes again. My amount of free time went up... and then back down to zero. Perhaps even below zero. Currently I spend my evenings and weekends reading textbooks, writing lesson plans, writing essays, and studying for tests. Yay?

Anyway, I'm done spouting excuses! DeviantArt (that's how it's spelled now, right?) has changed a LOT since I was last on here. It's almost unrecognizable to me. Thanks to my loyal followers (if I still have any) for keeping me on your watch lists. Like I said before, I'll try to catch up on my messages. Due to the "no free time" thing, I have almost no art and very little photography to share, but I have a backlog of photos from Taiwan to upload anyway, and I'll try to get around to that. No promises though.

And by the way, HOW ARE YOU DOING??? Tell me how your life has been these past two years! And share your fave personal art from those years with me! I'd love to hear from you!